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5.5 Cost/Resource Management, Schedule Change, and Feedback

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AACE Planning and Scheduling Professional PSP

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1 Chapter 0: Introduction & AACE PSP Exam Structure

0.1 Current AACE PSP Exam, Eligibility, and Certification Facts 0.2 Planning and Scheduling Professional Roles and Competencies 0.3 Cost Engineering and Scheduling Terminology per RP 10S-90

2 Chapter 1: Scope Definition & Planning Fundamentals

1.1 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Architecture & RP 33R-15 1.2 Organization & Resource Breakdown Structures (OBS, RBS, RAM) 1.3 Project Planning and Activity-Logic Development 1.4 Contract Requirements and Delivery Constraints 1.5 Stakeholder Identification, Needs, and Plan Review 1.6 Constructability Methods and Value Engineering 1.7 Resource Identification and Project Variables 1.8 Scope, Goals, Project Plan, and Phase Definition 1.9 Cost Breakdown Structure and Cost Estimate Development 1.10 Phase Relationships, Baseline Plan, Forecasts, and Risk/Recovery Planning

3 Chapter 2: Critical Path Method Mechanics & Network Logic

2.1 Activity Definition and Logic Relationships 2.2 Activity Durations, Productivity, and Work Calendars 2.3 Forward and Backward Pass Mathematical Mechanics 2.4 Float Calculations and Critical-Path Identification

4 Chapter 3: Advanced Network Techniques & Schedule Constraints

3.1 Schedule Constraints and Their Impact on Dates and Float 3.2 Advanced Logic Modeling: Ladders and Fragnets 3.3 Schedule Levels of Detail and Schedule Basis Documentation 3.4 Schedule Scope and Schedule Specification 3.5 Breakdown-Structure Relationships and the Cost Estimate Model 3.6 Stakeholder Feedback and Types of Schedules 3.7 Activities, Milestones, Schedule Quality, and Basis Documentation

5 Chapter 4: Resource Management & Leveling

4.1 Resource Planning, Allocation, and Histograms 4.2 Resource Leveling vs. Resource Smoothing 4.3 Cumulative Resource S-Curves & Productivity Tracking

6 Chapter 5: Baseline Management & Schedule Updating

5.1 Baseline Establishment, Forecasts, and Controlled Revision 5.2 Progress Measurement and Data Date Mechanics 5.3 Out-of-Sequence Logic: Progress Override vs. Retained Logic 5.4 Schedule Update Review and Quality Verification per RP 53R-06 5.5 Cost/Resource Management, Schedule Change, and Feedback 5.6 Acceleration and Recovery Scheduling per RP 54R-07 5.7 Control Schedules, Variance Analysis, Forecasts, and Management Summaries

7 Chapter 6: Schedule Risk Analysis & Monte Carlo Simulation

6.1 Schedule Risk Principles, Risk Drivers, and Three-Point Estimates 6.2 Monte Carlo Simulation, Criticality, Correlation, and Merge Effects 6.3 Risk Outputs, Confidence Dates, Sensitivity, and Contingency

8 Chapter 7: Earned Value & Earned Schedule Management

7.1 Earned Value Foundations: PV, EV, AC, and Variances 7.2 Traditional EV Performance Indices & Late-Project Quirks 7.3 Earned Schedule (ES) Theory, SV(t), and SPI(t) 7.4 Independent Schedule Forecasting & IEAC(t)

9 Chapter 8: Forensic Schedule Analysis & Delay Claims

8.1 Delay Classification, Criticality, and Contract Questions 8.2 RP 29R-03 Taxonomy, Data Validation, and Method Selection 8.3 TIA, Windowed Analysis, and Subtractive Models 8.4 Concurrency, Pacing, and Float: Technical Analysis Before Entitlement

10 Chapter 9: Executive Communication & Practical Scenario Applications

9.1 Official PSP Memo Writing Framework 9.2 Structured Technical Problem-Solving for PSP Scenarios 9.3 Current Exam Strategy and Core Calculation Review

5.5 Cost/Resource Management, Schedule Change, and Feedback

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

Schedule maintenance updates actual cost/resource use, remaining needs, and current availability without confusing expenditure with physical progress.

Change control distinguishes status, forecast revision, proposed change, approved change, and baseline revision.

Feedback from field, design, procurement, owner, vendors, and commissioning must be validated and dispositioned in the current model.

An audit trail should preserve what changed, why, who approved it, and how dates, cost, resources, and risk were affected.

Last updated: October 2026

5.5 Cost/Resource Management, Schedule Change, and Feedback

Schedule maintenance is more than entering actual dates. The team must reassess remaining resources, cost, logic, risk, and stakeholder information while preserving the distinction between current forecast and approved baseline.

Cost and resource status

At each data date, collect:

  • actual labor-hours, equipment use, quantities, and cost;
  • physical accomplishment and acceptance;
  • remaining quantities, production rates, crew plans, and duration;
  • resource availability and conflicts;
  • commitments, deliveries, and expected cost; and

time-dependent indirect-cost exposure.

Actual cost does not equal earned progress. A large material payment may occur before installation, while installed work may be earned before every invoice posts. Use the project’s earning rules and reconcile timing differences.

Forecast remaining resources

Remaining duration should reflect remaining scope and expected production, not a formula that merely subtracts elapsed time. If production has changed, document whether the forecast assumes the trend continues, a learning improvement, or a funded recovery action.

Update resource histograms and shared-equipment plans. A date forecast that assumes six crews while the resource plan supplies three is not internally consistent.

Types of schedule change

  • Change type Example Baseline effect
  • Status Actual start occurred None by itself
  • Forecast revision Remaining duration increases Preserve variance
  • Execution change Preferential sequence revised Document in current schedule
  • Proposed scope change Owner considers added system Model separately under policy
  • Approved change Executed change modifies scope/time Incorporate through authorization
  • Baseline revision Approved reference is formally changed Preserve prior baseline and approval

Do not rebaseline merely because performance is late. Also do not leave an approved scope change outside the current model after authorization.

Feedback loop

Useful feedback comes from:

  • field supervisors on means, methods, and productivity;
  • designers on release and review dates;
  • procurement on vendor progress and logistics;
  • owners on decisions and access;
  • safety and quality teams on hold points;
  • commissioning on turnover and testing; and

cost control on commitments, actuals, and forecasts.

Validate feedback against records and responsible owners. A verbal statement that work is “almost done” is not a reliable remaining-duration estimate.

Change log and audit trail

For material revisions record:

  • change identifier and description;
  • source and date;
  • affected scope and activities;
  • logic, duration, calendar, cost, and resource effect;
  • forecast milestone effect;
  • approval status and authority; and

file/version incorporated.

Schedule narratives should distinguish progress-driven date changes from non-progress revisions. This lets a reviewer understand why the critical path moved.

Example

A contractor starts cable pulling before a room-turnover predecessor finishes. Field feedback shows the crew used partial access. The scheduler validates the actual start, investigates the remaining access restriction, and revises logic to represent the real sequence if authorized. Simply selecting Progress Override would calculate a date but would not repair the model or document the execution change.

Monthly integration review

Reconcile scope, schedule, cost, resources, risk, and change before publishing. Check that the current forecast reflects approved changes, pending changes are labeled consistently, resource demand is feasible, and baseline variance remains visible.

The maintained schedule should be the best current model of remaining work and an auditable history of how that model evolved.

Applied review: maintain one controlled story

Status cost and resources with evidence appropriate to the measure. Labor hours expended do not necessarily equal physical progress, and invoices paid do not necessarily equal value earned. Record actual quantities, hours, costs, and completion evidence separately where the control system requires them, then revise remaining quantities, production rates, crews, and forecasts from current conditions. Preserve the distinction between historical actuals and estimates to complete.

Change control should label the state of every revision. A potential change may be logged and modeled for evaluation without becoming authorized scope. An approved change may alter budget, milestones, logic, resources, or the baseline under the governing procedure. Current forecast movement caused by performance is not automatically a baseline change. Keep a change register and a schedule narrative that explain what changed, why, when, under whose authority, and with what time and cost effect.

Field, design, procurement, vendor, owner, and commissioning feedback should enter through a repeatable cutoff and validation process. Resolve conflicts against objective records and responsible-party confirmation. Late information may require a forecast revision even when responsibility remains disputed. In an exam scenario, the best control response usually updates the current model truthfully, protects the approved baseline history, and routes entitlement or approval questions through the appropriate governance path.